Week 3: Clear - Importance of Redundancy

In business and enterprise computing, availability of data and information is probably the most important criteria of information technology.  To ensure the availability of data and services, the hardware and configurations must be redundant in all aspects.  Redundancy can be accomplished in multiple ways.  There are redundant hard drives, power supplies, network interface cards (NIC), network switches and routers, just to name a few.  Unfortunately, there are components that cannot be redundant, which are motherboards, hard drive controllers, operating systems, and software.  To aid in non-redundant aspects, servers can be setup to do clustering, virtual machines, and network load balancing.  Hardware failures can occur without any warning and must be planned for based on the criticality of the host and data.

Hard drive redundancy is accomplished using a technology called Redundant Array of Independent Disks, also known as RAID.  RAID is a storage technology which utilizes multiple disks to create a virtual storage volume.  This storage volume provides fault tolerance and greater throughput or speed.  This can be accomplished via a hard drive RAID controller or using software RAID.  The two most used RAID configurations are RAID level 1, which is essentially mirroring, and RAID level 5, which utilizes block-level striping with dedicated parity.

The following URL provides several visuals for each RAID configuration. Reference URL: http://www.ecs.umass.edu/ece/koren/architecture/Raid/basicRAID.html

Picture taken from: http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5258/5528362934_4be047e5b5.jpg

Week 2: Clear - Ergonomics and Business

Ergonomics is the concept of conforming working environments to our body limits in a safe, efficient, and comfortable manner.  Our bodies have limitations whereas we must position ourselves and utilize computers and desks so that there is no negative impact on our bodies.  Some tools to aid in ergonomics in the computing environment include, but are not limited to; ergonomic keyboards that are contoured to the natural positioning of our hands, mice that prevent repetitive excursions of the hand, and chairs to prevent prolonged awkward body postures.  In addition, there are software tools to aid in ergonomics, which are voice recognition software and desktop injury prevention software. 

This is important to the business environment due to the productivity impacts that are imminent from bad ergonomics.  As a business manager or leader, you are responsible for both your own, and your workers’, safety and comfort.  Good ergonomics will improve the efficiency of your business’s production in return for providing a safe and comfortable work environment.  Bad ergonomics in the office environment can result in injuries or illness, loss of productivity and employee satisfaction. As an example, prolonged use of computer monitors can result in eyestrain, which then can result in headaches and illness.  One way to prevent eyestrain is by utilizing the “20/20” rule, wherein you give your eyes a short break every twenty (20) minutes by focusing on something twenty (20) feet away.

The following URL from Valdosta State University explains how good ergonomics equates to good economics.

Reference URL: http://www.valdosta.edu/finadmin/safety/ergonomics/BusinessErgonomics.shtml  

Picture taken from http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2068/1599676842_1ca1062c91_m.jpg  (Creative Commons)

Week 1: Clear - Getting started

This is my first post in this Spring 2012 semester of ISM3004, Computing in the Business Environment.  I look forward to all the projects and information to be learned.  I just finished attending the first Live Meeting of the semester and it was very helpful.  I like the live interaction of it.  Since I am an online business program student, some of my classes may not offer the live virtual interactive sessions.  I kind of like how this class requires blog posts on a  public forum, Blogger.  The blog can be private or public, but keeping it public seems better, because it will allow others to learn from my class learning.

Also, I am a first semester UF student, enrolled in the Online Business Program.  I graduated from Seminole State College a month ago with an AA majoring in Business Administration.  This is my first semester at UF and I have been impressed with the faculty and content.  Until next week or before...

--proud gator and dad